In Search of China's Missing Credit

By

Alex Frangos

Updated Aug. 13, 2014 10:13 a.m. ET

Where did all the lending go? Investors in China might want to know.

The latest batch of government data showed a stunning drop in growth in China's financing activity in July—a troubling sign in an economy where debt has become critical to expansion. Total social financing, the broadest measure of lending, expanded by 273 billion yuan ($44 billion) from June, the slowest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers.